


Whispers in the Pools

by Miss_Gems



Category: Diablo (Video Game), Diablo III
Genre: And how they happen, Archangels, Art, Aspect of Wisdom, Gen, He's always had voices in his head., It's about the intent, Some backstory for our favorite spider, fluffy angels au, pre-Sanctuary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Gems/pseuds/Miss_Gems
Summary: Archangels do not start out as such. They Ascend. Malthael acknowledges the aftermath of his own ascension.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Whispers in the Pools

The water of the pools was cool to the touch. Not frigid-cold, as Malthael had expected [ _known it wasn’t, they’d known, he’d known, but he needed to see for himself_ ].

It was...pleasant, against his muzzle and tongue. 

At the very least, it helped clear his head some - which was the idea he supposed. 

Malthael huffed a sigh through his nose, and lapped fervently at the iridescent water. There was so _much_ in his head now. So much information, so many different topics, experiences, knowledge... so much _Wisdom_ . All the thoughts and memories of the Archangels before him. Every one of them was preserved within the back of his mind.  
[ _They always would be, for did the Aspect of Wisdom not need the answers to every problem?_ ]

They weren’t as vibrant as his own thoughts and experiences, nor the here-and-now. It came when he needed it, ebbing in and out of his mind’s-eye. 

Water dripped from his muzzle as the new Archangel of Wisdom sat back. Malthael shook his head, scattering the droplets, and after a moment, slowly spread his wings. Reflected in the water were runes, flicking in and out of existence, too quick to read. Perhaps they were a reflection of his innermost thoughts. Or maybe they represented all the knowledge he’d been granted.  
[ _They’d all borne them from one life to the next._ ]

Dernity had done it. She’d given up her mantle to him, anointed him into the Aspect of Wisdom. Malthael knew now that he’d have as long as was necessary, [as long as they could allow] to sort through all the things floating in his head. And he knew as all the others had known that it could only mean the previous Aspect was fated to die soon.

Malthael’s breath hitched as a sense of foreboding loss, magnified by [ _Hundreds. There were so many of us._ ] bloomed in his chest. 

He was not ready to lose his beloved mentor. [ _Was he not? He’d received the mantle after all_.]

He was not ready to be the Archangel of Wisdom.

[ _He didn’t have a choice. None of them had._ ]

The face that stared back at him from the pools was his, as it had always been.

Why then, did it look so unfamiliar?

[ _He knows why._ ]

A low, uncertain chuckled left Malthael. “Among the Pools and under the Light of the Arch,” He whispered. “I’ve been reborn.”


End file.
